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Push for businesses to concentrate on workers safety

The Health and Safety Executive is urging businesses to focus on their legal responsibility to make the safety of workers their top priority for 2014. Photo: PA

Businesses are being urged to make sure their health and safety procedures are in place.

The warning from the Health and Safety Executive comes after six people died across the region while at work in the last year.

The warning from the Health and Safety Executive comes after six people died across the region while at work in the last year. Credit: ITV News West Country

Almost a thousand had a major injury at work. It is urging employers to tackle dangers rather than wasting time on paperwork.

Some of the most high-risk industries have been named as construction, agriculture, manufacturing and recycling.

The families of those workers in Devon and Cornwall who lost their lives last year had to face Christmas without them and hundreds of other workers have had their lives changed forever by a major injury.

Whilst the number of workplace deaths and major injuries has decreased nationally, these statistics highlight why we still need good health and safety in workplaces.

I therefore urge employers to spend their time tackling the real dangers that workers face and stop worrying about trivial matters or pointless paperwork.

It’s important to remember that while we still have one of the lowest rates of workplace deaths in Europe, one death is still one too many.

I would urge businesses to focus on helping to cut the number of deaths further in 2014.